Of Mice and Men: Social and Historical Background – Racism and Lynching
John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck grew up in an era that was politically turbulent and very difficult
for a modern reader to understand. With his liberal and humanitarian
mind, it is not surprising that he became strongly affected by what he was
seeing around him in California.

Slavery
In 1619 a Dutch ship arrived in Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of the USA
with 20 ‘Negars’ for sale. These are thought to have been the first black people to
be seen in America. They worked as servants in the homes of white settlers in
Jamestown, Virginia. By the 1660s laws had been passed in Virginia, Maryland
and Massachusetts which allowed white people to keep black slaves.
The slaves were supplied by merchants from Europe who traded in slaves sold
to them by tribal chiefs in West Africa. It is estimated that 15 million people were
transported across the Atlantic during the following two centuries.

‘Jim Crow’ laws
Some US states tried to keep control over black people by passing what was
called ‘Jim Crow’ laws to keep them separate or segregated from white people. This involved making sure that black people went to
separate schools.
Despite the fact that in 1862 President Lincoln legally freed the slaves, black people were still kept in poorly paid, unskilled jobs with
few trade union rights and little worthwhile education. After the American Civil War of 1861­63, black people began to move to the
northern cities in search of a better life. By 1910, the black population of New York had risen to 91,709; thirty years later, it was 458,000.
In the First World War of 1914­18, 360,000 Black Americans served in the armed forces. They returned home to find that racism
was still very much a part of everyday life. Many other
blacks moved to the cities to work in the factories. In
1919, at least 70 Black Americans were lynched and there
were race riots in both Northern and Southern cities. New
‘Jim Crow’ laws were passed in the Southern states of the
USA — so that there were segregated taxis, race tracks
and boxing matches.
‘Lynch’ mobs took the law into their own hands and got
away with murder. In 1933, 28 lynchings were reported. Of
course, it is not known how many went unreported. The story of
the death of George Arnwood may give you an idea of what
lynching was all about.
In October 1933, a 22­year­old mentally handicapped black
man, Arnwood was arrested by police for allegedly assaulting an
82­year­old white woman. White townspeople announced that they were going to lynch Arnwood even though he had not been charged
with any crime.
Men pulled up a telegraph pole and used it as a battering ram to break down the door of the jail. They got the keys to his cell and
beat Arnwood to death. His body was dragged out of the jail by a mob of about 400 white people and strung up on a tree. Police stood
and watched as the mob then cut down the body and dragged it through the town before finally setting it on fire. The dead man’s ears
and penis were cut off by the lynch mob.
Nobody was punished for the murder of George Arnwood. His story is not unique. In the Southern State of Georgia, for example, the
lynching of another black man was followed by the burning of his body. Hundreds of white men and women, both old and young, danced
around the fire while the black man burned. That same evening a dance was held in a nearby barn. White people came from far and
wide to the celebration. Many were members of the Ku Klux Klan, an American white supremacist political organisation that was about
five million strong in the 1930s
A BLACK AMERICAN REMEMBERS THE 1930S LYNCH MOBS
The lesson of the lynching was very clear to us – that you, as a Black American, have a certain position, and that you’d better maintain that position
because if you get out of it, this is the punishment. It’s not a question of justice or right or wrong or law, this is something that we have the right to do and
we will do it. We also knew that the sheriff and some of his policemen were also members of the racist Ku Klux Klan. It was open intimi dation – a part of
the political process. There were few people in the white community who raised any objec tions to it. We knew that it was a total waste of time to go to the
law to get protection against lynching.

S J Campsall 2001 (Rev. 01/05/2011): OMAM Context Racism

All pages:

1

Reading - OMAM Background Slavery

Published on May 1, 2011

Slavery John Steinbeck grew up in an era that was politically turbulent and very difficult for a modern reader to understand. With his liber...